This Abandoned Attraction In Disney World Still Haunts Me To This Day

Change has been a constant at Disney Parks for the last 70 years, with rides and attractions — for better or worse — often closing to be replaced by something new. However, not every ride that has been shuttered has been replaced, as some just sit abandoned.

From EPCOT’s Wonders of Life to most of Hollywood Studios’ Animation Tour facilities to Animal Kingdom’s Discovery River Amphitheater, there are currently large abandoned swaths in each of Walt Disney World’s theme parks. However, none haunts more than the abandoned husk of not one, not two, but three attractions currently sitting in the Magic Kingdom.

When entering Tomorrowland from the Cinderella Castle hub, you’ll notice a looming building on the left-hand side of the land’s entranceway. This large structure is currently abandoned, save for the PeopleMover zipping by above and the occasional use for a meet & greet during special events. However, this wasn’t always the case.

The structure opened with the park back in 1971. It was initially home to a clone of a classic Disneyland attraction, Flight to the Moon, before transitioning to Mission to Mars along with its Disneyland counterpart in 1975. The proto-simulator attraction took guests through a veiled version of NASA’s Mission Control before they entered a theater disguised as a spaceship, with screens above, below, and around the seating area, to mimic a journey to the Red Planet. The ride was a staple of Tomorrowland for the first two decades of the park’s existence, before closing in October of 1993.

Two years later, the space that Mission to Mars once occupied reopened as one of the most controversial Disney attractions of all time: The ExtraTERRORestial Alien Encounter. The attraction was initially conceived in the 1980s as being themed to the Alien film franchise, which Disney held the theme park rights for at the time.

Imagineers planned a binaural attraction that would use a pitch black environment, a timed series of sound cues, and in-theater physical effects to terrify guests who were strapped into seats that didn’t move an inch by convincing them the famous Xenomorph creature from the film series was running wild through the room, near and even on them. Excitement was so high among some, including CEO Michael Eisner, for the attraction that it was planned as a cornerstone for a transformed Tomorrowland in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

However, a group of older Imagineers were less enthralled. Feeling that the ride’s subject matter was inappropriate for the company’s parks, they went to legendary filmmaker George Lucas, whose relationship with Disney was at its zenith at the time, as he had produced Captain EO, Star Tours, and was working on the then-upcoming Indiana Jones attraction with Imagineering. The older Imagineers were able to sway Lucas, who in turn was able to convince Eisner not to put the R-rated franchise into Disneyland or the Magic Kingdom (though ironically Alien would be a major part of the Great Movie Ride at Disney/MGM Studios). Instead, Lucas said he and the creative team would use an original concept for the attraction, which would still use the same technology and layout.

However, Lucas and the Imagineers struggled to crack an original story for the attraction, all while construction in the Magic Kingdom was already ongoing. Without the instantly recognizable intellectual property of Alien’s Xenomorph, they had trouble coming up with a creature that could take advantage of the binaural sound elements that were already being designed, and a backstory that could instantly express how scary the attraction was going to be without using the R-rated setting and character.

Eventually, they settled on a slightly convoluted story centered around X-S-Tech, a futuristic interstellar corporation that is hosting an open house in Tomorrowland. After a humorous pre-show, guests were shepherded into the theater, where it was revealed that X-S Tech was using the guests as “human guinea pigs” to expose them to an alien they’d captured. The creature would menace the guests for a bit before turning on the X-S scientists, disabling their weapons, and releasing the restraints, allowing guests to escape. The creature could then be heard massacring the scientists as guests exited through the gift shop.

That version soft-opened in 1994… and was panned. Surveyed guests complained about the violence, confusing storyline, the comedic tone of the pre-show in comparison to the dark tone of the actual attraction, and, biggest of all, the complaint that it was too scary for kids. Disney immediately halted the previews and began retooling the attraction.

Several months later, in June 1995, the ExtraTERRORestial Alien Encounter finally opened officially. The comedic pre-show had been replaced with a more sinister one featuring X-S Tech’s villainous Chairman Clench and the Tim Curry-voiced S.I.R. animatronic who would demonstrate X-S’s tech’s teleportation technology by frying a hapless creature named Skippy. This retooled intro was an attempt to let guests know just how scary the attraction was before they boarded. The main portion of the encounter was reworked as well, with the demonstration now centered around X-S Tech’s teleportation technology accidentally beaming the creature into the room with the guests. The alien’s previous nobility was abandoned, and it menaced guests until it was destroyed by brave X-S technicians Spinlok and Dr. Femus.

The attraction met with a split response. On the one hand, a cult following of fans professed how much they loved the terrifying experience, and its characters — especially Skippy. However, on the other hand, even with the simplified storyline and heavy emphasis on how scary the attraction was, Disney continued to receive complaints from parents and other guests about just how scary the attraction was. This clash led to the planned Disneyland version of the ride as well as potential future additions to the Paris and Tokyo resorts being canceled.

Alien Encounter, as many guests referred to it in shorthand, operated at the Magic Kingdom until 2003, when to was closed for a quick retrofit into a new attraction: Stitch’s Great Escape. Featuring the titular Experiment-626 from Lilo & Stitch, the attraction followed the same beats as its predecessor, with guests ending up in the same room, only this time with Stitch at its center. From there, the experience featured many of the same effects, but recast from frightening to (allegedly) humorous, including Stitch “leaping” from seat-to-seat (an effect achieved by having the restraints move up and down on a guest’s shoulders) and having the character burp chili dogs.

Stitch’s great escape was seen by many as a failure; the comedic elements turned off Alien Encounter fans, while the pitch black environments and jump-scare nature of the effects meant even this “toned-down” Stitch version of the show still frightened many. The ride, which was often called the worst in the Magic Kingdom, limped along until 2018 when it was closed.

In the near-decade since, the massive show-building has sat abandoned at the front of one of the Magic Kingdom’s marquee lands, just steps from Cinderella Castle. Given the ongoing “Tomorrowland Problem” faced by Imagineering, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Disney has yet to do anything of note with the space this decade, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb, especially in the crowded Magic Kingdom. We’re hoping a big Tomorrowland overhaul is next on the docket after all of the changes coming to Frontierland, but we will have to wait and see! Stay tuned to AllEars for more on Walt Disney World’s history.

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Which attraction was your favorite: Mission to Mars, ExtraTERRORestial Alien Encounter, or Stitch’s Great Escape? Let us know in the comments below.

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